Beyond This Fucked Up World [choi yeonjun]

Chapter Twenty Two - Shopping With Unwanted Benefits

One thing I had always wondered since I knew him was how Yeonjun did his shopping. Judging by his recent actions, I would guess that he either couldn't or wouldn't pay for his purchase. Perhaps more likely a combination of both where he realizes he has no money left in his account and decides to just steal because 'they won't miss it anyway'.

I didn't know how he would rob a supermarket of that size but I definitely wouldn't walk in with a shopping trolley as calmly as he just did. Well actually I wouldn't rob a supermarket at all in the first place as I would have a panic attack from the adrenaline alone, but hypothetically I wouldn't do it like that.

"Yeonjun?"

"Huh?"

"You're going to pay for the stuff, aren't you?" I asked, slightly unsure. He started laughing loudly, leaning forward on the handle of the shopping trolley and looking over at me with a big smile.

"You really don't trust me, do you?"

His laughter gave my body a tickling sensation. It made me happy to see him so amused, to my detriment as he was laughing at me but I still liked seeing him smile. Mostly because he looked incredibly cute scrunching up his nose like that, his cheekbones more prominent and his teeth showing.

Yeonjun let his gaze wander forward again, resolutely gripping the shopping trolley with both hands and coming back up from his serene stance, still smiling. Now, much more energetically than before, he pushed the trolley beside me while my eyes inspected the fruit and vegetable section.

"How much money do you have on you?"

"It doesn't matter."

I looked over at him, Yeonjun looked forward, totally indifferent and stood by his statement.

"You're not paying for this with the money you stole, are you?" I asked him now, a slight fear running through me.

"No, don't worry about that." He grinned slightly, amused by my concern. I watched his face for a while longer and when he made no sign that he was lying in any way, I left it at that and dropped my gaze from him.

"As long as I can pay it back, I guess it shouldn't matter."

I scratched the back of my head and calculated how much I would have left of my salary at the end of next month if I spent more of it than usual on food.

"Pack everything you need, I'm just pushing the shopping trolley here." Yeonjun smiled at me, trying in vain to wink.

The trolley gradually filled with groceries, all of which I carefully selected and inspected for its price. Yeonjun didn't seem to notice too much how uptight I was about what products I was choosing, but put every item in the trolley that I stared at for too long.

The same thing happened again in the dairy section when I held two different milk cartons in my hand and I couldn't decide which one to buy. Before I could even make a decision, Yeonjun grabbed the more expensive carton and threw it into the cart.

"Can you stop always throwing every item I touch into the trolley?"

"You're as slow as a granny, you don't need to make it any more sneaky than it already is."

"I have to pay it all back next month, I want to have some left over from my salary at the end." I commented sharply.

"Then don't pay it back."

I turned away from the shelf and looked perplexedly into Yeonjun's eyes.

"Are you serious?"

Yeonjun scrutinized my expression and realized that I thought his suggestion was a big bummer.

"Or you could just pay me back later, if that would make you feel better." His gaze lingered gently on me and I just nodded in response, a little stirred by his soft skin and prominent brows that I wanted to touch.

Getting my thoughts clear again, I instructed Yeonjun to look in the frozen food section for some groceries while I looked around for other essentials. After eyeing the shelf for a while, I grabbed a white package and inspected the description of the pads.

"They're not that good."

I jumped up at his comment and grabbed my heart in panic.

"Holy shit, Yeonjun!"

I tried to bring my pulse back to normal, clutching at the soft packaging.

"These are not so absorbent, use these instead." He continued, grabbing a green pack of pads from the shelf a little higher up and handing it to me. Slightly confused, I took the pack and put the other one back on the shelf on top of it.

"How do you know so much about pads?" I asked hesitantly. Yeonjun strolled leisurely back to the trolley and my gaze still watched him confusedly, holding the pads awkwardly in his hand.

"I have a cousin, remember?"

"And you're talking about pads?"

"No, she's talking about pads. I just wanted to use the toilet."

A laugh came up my throat and I threw the green wrapper into the cart with me, noticing all the frozen food Yeonjun had put in the cart. I spared my statement about the mountain of frozen items and ignored them instead.

"Do you see each other often?" I tried to inquire further about his cousin.

"We used to. Not anymore." He replied in a slightly gloomy voice.

"When before?"

"Before, like two years ago."

"How often did you used to meet her?"

Yeonjun put on a thoughtful expression while continuing to push the shopping trolley in front of him.

"Almost every week? We went to the same school but now she lives in America."

Another shopping trolley came towards us and I had to move closer to Yeonjun because of the narrow aisle. I felt our arms squeeze together, my gaze staying focused on the groceries in our cart.

"Were you going to stay with your cousin then, if you all ran off together?"

As the oncoming traffic cleared again, I distanced myself from Yeonjun slightly only to look him in the eye.

"Yes." He replied shortly, continuing to look straight ahead without making eye contact with me. He took a deep breath and started talking again.

"It was all planned up to this point. We would raise money to fly to America and then stay with my cousin for a while until we could afford our own place."

His hands gripped tighter around the shopping trolley and tightened unmistakably. His expression still seemed calm and composed despite all this, but I could tell from his tense posture that the subject still infuriated him. I wanted to change the subject, but knowing that was important to me.

"Do you ever visit your cousin?" Yeonjun laughed mockingly.

"You think my parents would let me come to America after this?"

"Does she come to visit you then, if you're already not allowed to leave the country?"

He remained silent. Apparently, no. I dropped the subject and we made our way to the checkout.

I remembered what Beomgyu had said about Yeonjun and Sunoo's relationship with each other. If Sunoo really got along best with Yeonjun, I can understand why he of all people still couldn't handle what Sunoo did. While the others are coming to terms with it and are gradually able to talk about it freely, Yeonjun is still pretty secretive about the whole thing.

Except for Taehyun, who doesn't want to talk about this at all. He completely shuts himself off from reality and acts as if nothing happened at all. But I think with a little more time, he could also come to terms with the truth and then only Yeonjun would be left, who would rather rob a bank than talk about his past.

My curiosity about how he really feels about Sunoo's deed overcame me more and more every time I was with Yeonjun. He is like a closed book and I could only read the description on the back. I don't know what to do to open the book, he closes it on purpose and only shows me what he wants to show. I don't know if it's just his nature to be so distant or if it's me who doesn't want to reveal anything either.